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This special issue of the Bulletin is a collection of seven papers discussing various issues related to dry port development in a number of selected countries located in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Discussions of dry port development under different economic and political backgrounds will provide policymakers with a better understanding of the relevant issues under consideration.

This issue of Bulletin comprises of seven articles:

Article 1: Inland terminals within North American and European supply chains – by Theo Notteboom and Jean-Paul Rodrigue;

Road traffic accidents kill an estimated 1.3 million people and injure 50 million people per year globally, and global road fatalities are forecast to reach 1.9 million by 2020. It is estimated that the number of deaths from road accidents in Asia is about 700,000 per year, accounting for more than half of the world’s road fatalities even though Asia accounted for only 43 per cent of the global vehicle population in 2007. These numbers are very high compared to other parts of the world.

The subprime mortgage crisis erupted in the United States in mid-2007 and was then transformed into the global financial crisis after the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The total amount of write-downs of loans and securities by financial institutions for 2007-2010 is estimated to reach $1 trillion in the United States, $604 billion in the United Kingdom, and $814 billion in the Euro Area. By contrast, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to have write-downs of only $210 billion, suggesting the limited damages incurred on the banking sector.

South-South Cooperation and Triangular Development Cooperation (SSC and TDC) in Asia-Pacific have grown in importance over the past decades with the rising complementarities and emergence of growth poles in the region and due to attention paid by the governments to regional economic cooperation.

It is widely recognized that the quality of trading environment has a significant impact on export competitiveness. The studies compiled in this publication analyse the relationship between trade facilitation and export competitiveness; analyse quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of trade costs on export; examine the status of export competitiveness in the region by using various indicators; and identify the effective ways of improving trading environment through trade and transport facilitation.

The principal aim of this publication is to fill a perceived gap in policy-related research and understanding of the development of the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector in the Asia-Pacific region, in the context of a rapidly changing and mutating international business environment. To foster growing national economies, policymakers in virtually all countries are expected to facilitate the entry of new business ventures and to increase the competitiveness of SMEs.

Since 1990, the Human Development Index has revolutionized discussions about human development. However, it suffers from two deficiencies, which can now be mitigated: geographic incompleteness and insufficiently “on-target” representation of economy, knowledge, and “a long and healthy life” at the level of the individual. This report summarizes attempts to rectify those deficiencies.

The Asia-Pacific Development Journal (APDJ) is published twice a year by the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The primary objective of the APDJ is to provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, information and data on all aspects of economic and social development issues and concerns facing the region and to stimulate policy debate and assist in the formulation of policy.

The Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report is an annual publication prepared by staff of the Trade and Investment Division as a full in-house publication. The Report replaces the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Review with its first issue in 2009. The theme of APTIR 2009 is: "trade-led recovery and beyond". This issue analyses the impact of the global economic crisis on trade and investment flows in and to the region and implications for trade policy.